Freshservice integration with Slack

Modified on: Tue, 17 Apr, 2018 at 5:38 PM

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Slack integration in Freshservice aims to bridge the gap between the tool you use to collaborate with your team members and the tool you use to solve end-user issues on your IT help desk. This brand new integration allows you to instantly convert your Slack conversations into tickets in Freshservice. You can also go a step further and notify other Slack users whenever a ticket has been created or updated in Freshservice.

Let us look at the possible scenarios where this integration might come in handy,

1. Kevin from the design team has been having issues with the Audio jack on his laptop. So he drops in a line directly to Harry, the IT support engineer in his office, on Slack explaining the issue in detail. Harry then keys in a slash command /freshservice-ticket. This instantly sends the details of their conversation on Slack to Freshservice, where it is in logged in as a ticket. Once the ticket has been created, the link to the ticket along with the ticket ID will be shared back in the conversation by the Freshservice bot.

2. Gerard is the IT manager for the top brass in his company. So whenever people like his CEO or VP raise a ticket with an issue, he and his team have to be notified immediately. To achieve this, Gerard sets up a Dispatch’r rule to automatically attach a High priority to tickets from the CEO or VP and, push the details of the ticket to their Slack channel. Whoever is available takes it up and solves their issue- Fast!

To get started with setting up the Slack integration for Freshservice, follow the instructions below. If you'd rather watch a video, here's a demo video.

Please note: We are in the process of phasing out the old videos. We will replace them with videos that include the updated UI and minor change in the initial setup process to accommodate the introduction of the Marketplace. Appreciate the patience.

1. Login to Freshservice as an administrator.

2. Go to Admin → Apps → Get More Apps.

3. Locate the Slack app and install it.

2. Upon clicking install, you will see a pop-up asking you click on the button Add to Slack to continue with the integration.

3. In the following screen, you will be requested to enter your team's Slack domain and credentials to proceed. Once you’ve enabled the integration, select the Public Channels and the Private Channels from the respective drop-downs, to determine which teams or groups get to see the details of tickets and which don’t. Make sure the checkbox against “Use slash command /freshservice-ticket to convert Slack DMs to tickets” is checked, if you wish to create tickets directly from Slack.

Then, click on Enable to continue.

4. Next, in order to push Freshservice ticket notifications to Slack, you will have to add a Dispatch’r or Observer rule associated with the Send to Slack action.

For example, you could create a Dispatch’r rule that triggers a message to the Tech Support team's Slack channel when a high priority ticket has been created. To do that, first set the conditions as shown in the image below.

Then, under Actions, select the option Send to Slack and pick the desired channel from the Slack Channel drop-down. Finally, hit Save to finish.

Similarly, if you want to inform requestors about any change in the status of their ticket, you could set up an Observer rule to notify them. Just like in the case of the Dispatch’r, use the Send to Slack option to push the information to Slack.

Quick Tip: While drafting the message in Dispatch’r or Observer, use the Insert Placeholders option to include information that is relevant to a ticket. The Ticket ID, Agent Name or the Ticket Subject, for example.

Creating Freshservice Tickets from Slack

Once the Slack integration has been enabled, all the agents on your service desk will be notified by email.

Before we begin telling you how to go about creating Freshservice tickets from Slack, please take a moment to inform your agents to authorize Slack to use their Freshservice account. To do that, log into Freshservice and navigate to your Profile Settings or click on the Authorize Slack button on the notification email that the agent would've received when the integration is enabled.

In the following screen, you will see an option to Authorize Slack on the right side of the screen. Click on that and follow the instructions henceforth to connect your Freshservice account to Slack.

Note: The steps mentioned above can be performed only when the Administrator of a Freshservice account enables the Slack integration.

Once the authorization is complete, you or your agents will be able to convert a Slack conversation into a ticket by using a simple slash command.

When someone sends you a message stating their issue on Slack via Direct Messages(DMs), simply type in the command /freshservice-ticket and hit Enter. Et Voila! The messages sent and received 1 hour prior to entering the command would be captured and converted into a ticket in Freshservice.

Once the ticket has been logged, a message will be sent back into the Slack conversation with the details of the ticket along with a link for more details. Take a look at another example below:

Viewing Slack Tickets in Freshservice

If your service desk has a large volume of tickets coming in every week and if you want to view just the tickets that were raised using Slack, all you have to do is simply choose Slack from the Source field from the list of filters on the right side of the Tickets screen.

You will now be able to view tickets that were created from Slack. When you open a ticket, it will include the conversation that took place on Slack prior to the agent entering the slash command. This will help the agents get a context about the issue the requestor was facing.

And, that’s it. The integration has now been set up. We believe this integration will help you to collaborate with your team and importantly, solve problems and close tickets faster.